Nov 8, 2016 - The lesser of two evils?
- Thread starter TX Redman
- Start date
- Status
The bottom line for me is we try to affect other elections all the time. Obama gave taxpayer money to unseat Netanyahu. We've been doing it for probably 100 years and so have the Russians. Honestly for me at least I could care less. Now if you tell me that somehow voting machines were rigged or highjacked then that's a different story.
But it's not like they funded a coup like we have done in the past
But I have no problem with Comey doing investigations. I was for it with Hillary so I have no problem with it now. Just hope it doesn't drag on forever because it's annoying logging onto FB and seeing the nonsense being posted there ( not you comrade Austouruskie )
But it's not like they funded a coup like we have done in the past
But I have no problem with Comey doing investigations. I was for it with Hillary so I have no problem with it now. Just hope it doesn't drag on forever because it's annoying logging onto FB and seeing the nonsense being posted there ( not you comrade Austouruskie )
beast of the east
Active member
I would think that the people who actually pay taxes in NYC don't need Obamacare, and that those healthy individuals who are compelled by law to get coverage with high deductible or face penalties are the ones getting screwed.
So the bottom line is that Hillary forgot to campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan because there were almost no Redmen.com posters there and minus the brilliant repartee they bring to political discussions, the prospect of active campaigning in those venues was seen as beneath her.
Personally I dont even care that much that repubs healthcare bill failed. They failed because they had something like 7 years to come up with a replacement and to all be on the same page and they did shit the entire time except say they were going to get rid of Obamacare. I dont blame Trump for this. I blame do nothing republicans who are in congress
So much of the health care discussion is actually about federalism and cost shifting and not about health care. Many politicians gravitate toward less effective clinical approaches that don't come out of budgets that are their responsibility. It's even worse with chronic relapsing illnesses like substance abuse and mental illness where the disease is an on-going risk and the outcome data doesn't easily fit in to a "cure / no cure" dichotomy.
So true and without a doubt the more political an issue Health Care is and in my opinion centralized, the more people will be marginalized by political machinations. One of the reasons that I moved my family out of Maine about 15 years back, was that as a small business, I had no insurance options. The government had screwed up the insurance industry so bad in the state that there was only one insurance provider left in the entire state, and no competition meant everything about it sucked.
sorry I edited myself I meant "so true" about the "cure / no cure" mentality and in my experience this and the marginalization is enforced as health insurance gets larger and more centralized.
One of my kids has Lyme Disease. It was misdiagnosed for years which as the disease does, caused all kinds of other chronic ailments. It can only be effectively treated if you identify it within the first 2 weeks or so otherwise there is no "cure." The wrong treatment literally killed her for a few minutes during a basketball game before she was revived. Another MD/Scientist friend provided me some product he had developed that he assured me would change her life... First night it put her into a coma.
Our health insurance (one of the largest and growing and rated as one of the best in the entire country) wouldn't even recognize Lyme Disease as an illness that needed treatment. When they finally had to start testing for it for patients showing symptoms, they mandated a test that was proven to be almost completely noneffective because it only diagnose one very specific strain of Lyme Disease that geographically is almost non-existent in the coverage area. Totally intentional and affected thousands of people for decades but as long as their "non-profit" ass doesn't have to pay for treating people they can make huge profits and do bullshit public services that help their PR and work the politicians.
One of my kids has Lyme Disease. It was misdiagnosed for years which as the disease does, caused all kinds of other chronic ailments. It can only be effectively treated if you identify it within the first 2 weeks or so otherwise there is no "cure." The wrong treatment literally killed her for a few minutes during a basketball game before she was revived. Another MD/Scientist friend provided me some product he had developed that he assured me would change her life... First night it put her into a coma.
Our health insurance (one of the largest and growing and rated as one of the best in the entire country) wouldn't even recognize Lyme Disease as an illness that needed treatment. When they finally had to start testing for it for patients showing symptoms, they mandated a test that was proven to be almost completely noneffective because it only diagnose one very specific strain of Lyme Disease that geographically is almost non-existent in the coverage area. Totally intentional and affected thousands of people for decades but as long as their "non-profit" ass doesn't have to pay for treating people they can make huge profits and do bullshit public services that help their PR and work the politicians.
I think you pointed out some core problems (which dwarf health, education and unemployment problems) that the current administration will have a hard time undoing. In many ways the multiculturalism project has arguably contributed the most significant divide in our society; not to mention UK and Europe. Multiculturalism an idea that emerged from the left/liberal vision under the superficiality of "people of all races, religions and cultures should be equal in the eyes of the law", had in reality a very different agenda. Now it seems quite noble in that it would stand to mean defense of individual rights, freedom from conformity and tolerance. Instead, multiculturalism became a key, yet another agenda to expand the power and control of the state. On the one side it has promoted all kinds of conformity — conformity in ideas, actions and speech - through indoctrination of children, students, teachers, academia, employees, managers and executives on what’s politically correct speech and thought.
On the other side, rather than working as a response to diversity it has become a means of constraining it. That is through the state apparatus diversity has been institutionalized by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes—into a singular, homogeneous Muslim or Black or Gay community, for example—and defining their needs and rights accordingly. For example that my identity is drawn on religious lines and so specific policies are drawn to cater to my muslim needs, while emphasizing such homogeneous identities as a key to entitlement. Such policies, in other words, have helped create the very divisions they were meant to overcome, and so a major reason why we stand so divided.
Yet we should be well aware that integration (of immigrants or of indigenous groups) has almost never happened because of the actions of the state. It has happened because of the work of civil society movements, by the individual bonds that people formed with one another, and by the "communitarian" organizations they establish to further their shared political and social interests. Rather what has been happening is the very erosion of such bonds and organizations through state sponsored organizations (e.g. black lives matter) that explains why social divide is a feature not simply of ethnic and immigrant communities, but of the wider society here, as well.
Perhaps the current administration to devolve some power might trigger a positive response, but I am not seeing any concerted and coherent proposals.
Trump beginning to realize the impracticality and inaccuracies of his campaign rhetoric and positions. I still think he is unfit and a complete super-douche, but I am pleased with his recent position changes.
In the last 2 weeks.....
-Now supports NATO (although claims he fixed it....whatever)
-Says China is NOT a currency manipulator
-Got rid of foolhardy General Flynn
-Demoted comic book villain Steve Bannon
-Actually made less than positive statements about Russia
Soon to come.......
-Realizes we are, in fact, not going to resurrect the coal industry
-Realizes the Freedom Caucus will support only that which ruins his reelection chances, resulting in having to reach across the aisle to pass any legislation.
-Realizes that building a wall is not the only or best method of immigration reform, and is ultimately fiscally irresponsible.
Of course, millions of uninformed Trump supporters won't notice the shift as it will not be tweeted. But let me be the first to say....way to go Donald. You haven't admitted you were wrong, but your actions are sufficient.
Goodbye to General Flynn and Steve Bannon Administration and hello to the Nikki Haley and General McMasters Administration. This is good news.
In the last 2 weeks.....
-Now supports NATO (although claims he fixed it....whatever)
-Says China is NOT a currency manipulator
-Got rid of foolhardy General Flynn
-Demoted comic book villain Steve Bannon
-Actually made less than positive statements about Russia
Soon to come.......
-Realizes we are, in fact, not going to resurrect the coal industry
-Realizes the Freedom Caucus will support only that which ruins his reelection chances, resulting in having to reach across the aisle to pass any legislation.
-Realizes that building a wall is not the only or best method of immigration reform, and is ultimately fiscally irresponsible.
Of course, millions of uninformed Trump supporters won't notice the shift as it will not be tweeted. But let me be the first to say....way to go Donald. You haven't admitted you were wrong, but your actions are sufficient.
Goodbye to General Flynn and Steve Bannon Administration and hello to the Nikki Haley and General McMasters Administration. This is good news.
Coal industry resurrection now more likely after breakthrough at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee (announced mid October 2016) was able to use copper/carbon based nanotechnology to convert CO2 in to ethyl alcohol. Start with a hydrocarbon fuel and end up with a hydrocarbon fuel.
How about methane capture from over 10,000 sites in the US with more than 1,000 of cattle (milk and beef) each animal producing about 70 pounds of manure a day and pouring methane (40X worse than CO2) in to the atmosphere. I want an energy surplus so great that when the Russians, Iranians, Saudis, Venezuelans, et al misbehave, we find ourselves in the position of saying "Thanks, but we already have this covered", to whichever extraction dependent economy misbehaves across its borders.
- Status